Dr Jo Angouri
Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Communication and Linguistics
PhD in Language and Linguistics, 2007, University of Essex
MSc in Linguistics, 2003, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
BA in Philology (Specialising in Linguistics), 2001, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Room: 5E16
Telephone: +44 (0)117 3282397
Email: Jo.Angouri@uwe.ac.uk
My main area of interest is Intercultural Workplace Communication from a Sociolinguistic and Applied Linguistic perspective. My research centrally addresses the area of Professional Discourse and focuses on communicative activity in multinational companies in Europe as well as the pedagogic implications of research on workplace talk. I am particularly interested in variation in discourse practices and style, interactional features and in the issues of culture and power.
I have done extensive field research in multinational companies in four European countries and I am currently working on a project on the comparative analysis of discourse in business meetings. The aim of this research is to investigate aspects of how ‘things get done at work’ by examining naturally-occurring corporate business meetings. This research is by nature interdisciplinary, bridging the areas of Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics and Business Studies. I am also involved in a project examining employees’ perceptions of culture and the contradictions between their accounts in relation to culture at a situation-specific versus pan-situational/abstract level.
I have worked for six (mainly European-funded) research projects both as researcher (co-investigator) and regional coordinator in areas such as language contact and identity, code-switching, attitudes towards language, diagnosis and analysis of linguistic-communication needs in social and workplace areas and foreign language use in the workplace.
Doctoral Supervision
I welcome PhD applications from students interested in pursuing research in Intercultural Professional Discourse, and in any of my areas of interest. I am currently supervising several PhD projects in areas such as workplace written discourse in multinational companies and language contact and identity.
Teaching
I am currently teaching modules on Text Linguistics, Intercultural Pragmatics and Discourse, Intercultural Communication and Research Methods in Linguistics. I am also the Award Leader for our MA in Intercultural Communication.
Recent Publications
Chapters in Books
2009 in press “Quantitative, Qualitative or both? Combining methods in linguistic research”. In L. Litosseliti (Ed) Research Methods in Linguistics. Continuum
2010 in press “Using textbook and real life data to teach turn taking in business meetings”. In N. Harwood (Ed.) Handbook of Teaching Materials. Cambridge University Press
Selected Peer Reviewed Publications
2010 in press “They have no understanding where I come from” Developing skills for effective meeting talk in multinational workplace settings. Journal of Language and Intercultural Communication. Special Issue
2010 in press (with D. Tseliga) “you HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!” A study of impoliteness strategies in two online fora. Journal of Politeness Research. Special Issue on Politeness and Computer-Mediated Communication. Edited by Miriam Locher.
2009 “Language policy and language practice in the workplace; a study of public and private companies situated in Greece”. Journal of Hellenic Studies Special Issue on The Greek Language in the Diaspora, 17.1:.91-109
2008 “Foreign language use in the workplace: The case of Greek” pp 40-47. In World Socioeconomic Conference Greeks in Diaspora. Edited and Published by National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research. LaTrobe University Melbourne.
2008 (with N. Harwood) “This is too formal for us… A case study of variation in the written products of a multinational consortium”. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 22: 38-64.
2005 “Language Teaching in Tertiary Education: Do we teach what they need?” Volume on Foreign Language Teaching in Tertiary Education. University of Epirus, Igoumenitsa, Greece. (pp. 75-84).
Book Notes/Reviews
2009 in press Ikuko Nakane, Silence in Intercultural Communication: Perceptions and Performance. Language in Society
2008 Bargiela-Chiappini, F., Nickerson, C., & Planken, B.Business discourse’. Language in Society, 37, 4.
Recent Conference Papers (since 2005)
16-18/09/2009 “First of all I don’t accept the term wrong” Constructing expertise in meeting talk. 2nd International Workshop on Discourse in Organizations (DiO) University of Antwerp. Ghent Belgium.
12-17/07/2009 [with Meredith Marra] “Don’t you know who I am? Corporate meetings and professional identity”. 11th International Pragmatics Conference, Melbourne, Australia,
12-17/07/2009 [with Dora Tseliga] “what the shit is this all about!!!????" A study of impoliteness strategies in two online fora” [Panel: (Im)politeness in Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) ] 11th International Pragmatics Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
30 -2/07 2009 [with Dora Tseliga] “Are we serious here? You are not worth talking to!” A study of conflictual disagreement in CMC. Linguistic impoliteness and rudeness LIAR II Lancaster University
12/2008 (1-10) [with Stephanie Schnurr] “The art of making decisions” Partnerships in Action: Research, Practice & Training. Hong Kong
09/2008 (11-13) “Tips for effective. meetings”: Sociopragmatic competence, meeting talk and business English textbooks” BAAL, Swansea, UK
07/2008 (3-5). ““[yea]hmmm yea of c[ourse]” Overlapping talk (OT) and gender identities in workplace talk”. IGALA 5, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ.
04/2008 (3-5). “[hmm yea exactly my point]” Is facilitative overlapping talk (OT) perceived as facilitative by workplace interactants? Sociolinguistics Symposium 17, Amsterdam.
03/2008 (29-01). "Are Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) textbooks Specific enough for learners to cope with corporate meeting talk?" AAAL 2008, Washington D.C.
02/2008 (20-22). [with Beeching, K.] “Sociopragmatic Competence and Business Textbooks” EPICS III, 3rd Symposium on intercultural, cognitive and social pragmatics. Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain.
12/2007 (14-16). [with Mathaioudakis, M. & Zigrika, M.] “Then how will they get the ‘much-wanted paper’? A multifaceted study of English as a foreign language in Greece”. 14th International Conference of Applied Linguistics on Advances in Research on Language Acquisition and Teaching. Greek applied Linguistics Association. Thessaloniki, Greece.
04/2007. “You just have to jump in…A study of overlapping talk in business meetings”. 28th Annual International Conference. Department of Philology. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Greece
04/2007. “Their English is not good enough to work at an international level. A study of the language skills of employees in multinational companies”. International conference on Corporate and Marketing Communications 2007. Middlesex University Business Department.
07/2006. [with Jones, Claire]. “To do or not to do the FTA? or A study of linguistic impoliteness in workplace and legal settings”. Linguistic Impoliteness and Rudeness Conference. University of Huddersfield, UK
11/2005. “Mediation in the workplaceor Why do I need to translate when I was recruited as a secretary?” International Colloquium on Intercultural Communication and Public Sector. Department of Applied Foreign Languages in Management and Commerce. Igoumenitsa, Greece.
07/ 2005. “Communicative activity in plurilingual workplace environments in the UK”. The 14th World Congress of Applied Linguistics. Hosted by the American Association for Applied Linguistics. Madison, Wisconsin USA.
07/ 2005. “Do they need to write after all? A study of writing in the workplace”. ICIC's Second Annual Conference on Written Discourse and Intercultural Rhetoric. Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication. IUPUI, Indiana, USA.
06/2005. “Language Teaching in Tertiary Education: Do we teach what they need?”. International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching in Tertiary Education. Department of Applied Foreign Languages in Management and Commerce. Igoumenitsa, Greece.
05/2005. “Does Greece’s language policy comply with the language practice in modern socioeconomic work environments? Myths and Truths...”. 24th International Workshop-Conference on Historical, Political and Mental Formations. Organised by the Department of Political Psychology University of Crete, Greece.
Recent Invited talks/Seminars/Guest Lectures (since 2005)
11/03/2009 'Intercultural Meeting Discourse; Is it all about doing meetings with
nationally heterogeneous groups?' The Centre for Research on Language and Education. University of Bristol
11/02/09 "Meetings are rarely used in Southern Europe to solve problems and reach agreement”, Representations of Intercultural Meeting Talk in Business English Textbooks. Centre for Applied Linguistics. University of Warwick.
05/07/2008. Workshop on “my brilliant career. Where can gender and language research lead?”, IGALA conference 2008. Panel: Joris DeBres, Susan Ehrlich, Miriam Meyerhoff , Louise Mullany, Anne Pauwels
24/04/2008. “Meeting talk at multilingual and multicultural workplaces”. School of Languages, Linguistics and Culture. Birkbeck College, University of London.
03-04/2007. Lectures on Professional Discourse and Language Variation and Change. Department of Languages, Linguistics and Culture. Birkbeck College, University of London. Module: Sound and meaning.
07/02/2007. “That’s how we do it here…A study of the shared discourse repertoire of Communities of Practice in multinational companies”. Language in the Professions Seminar Series, University of Nottingham.
07/06/2006. “Foreign language use in the workplace: The case of Greek”. 1st World Socioeconomic Conference Greeks in Diaspora. National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research. LaTrobe University. Athens. Greece.
30/05/2006. “Communication in the workplace: New challenges?”. Department of Psychology University of Crete, Greece.
15/05/2006. “Is Greek a business language?”. National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research. LaTrobe University. Melbourne. Australia.
11/05/2006. “Most people abroad speak English”. National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research. LaTrobe University. Melbourne. Australia.
10/05/2006. “Language teaching and Language teaching in context: The case of Greek as a second or foreign language”. National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research. LaTrobe University. Melbourne. Australia.
12/04/2006. “Communication breakdowns: lack of workplace-related language skills?”. Department of Information Technology. Wellington Institute of Technology. New Zealand
07/04/2006. “Communicative activity in plurilingual workplace environments in Europe: A study of 7 multinational companies”. Department of Languages. Auckland University of Technology. Auckland, New Zealand.
22/03/2006. “The impact of national culture vs. the culture of the Community of Practice on workplace interactions”. Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand
13/03/2006. “Speak now or… A study of overlapping talk in business meetings”. Department of Linguistics. University of Canterbury. Christchurch, New Zealand.
10/03/2006. “Linguistic auditing in multilingual workplace environments”. Department of Linguistics And Applied Language Studies. Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand
08/03/2006. “Overlapping talk”. Discourse Analysis Group. Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand
11-01/ 2006. “An 8 week workshop on Data Collection and Analysis”. Postgraduate Seminar, Department of Language and Linguistics, Essex University. UK.
13/12/2005. “Language in the Workplace”. The Literacy Research Discussion Group (LRDG). Lancaster Literacy Research Centre.
10/11/2005. One day course on “English Language: The World of Work. A Language Variation Course for AS/A2 Teachers”. Organised by the Cambridge Centre at Villiers Park, Foxton.
Conference organisation
I have organized a number of International Conferences and workshops. At the moment I am co-organising [with Kate Beeching] a three day International conference on Meaning and Interaction (i-Mean@uwe)
Grants
I am a core network member on the ESRC funded Discourse Analysis Network under the ESRC funded Networks For Methodological Innovation 2008.
I was co-applicant and obtained a fund from AHRC for the organisation of LAngUE (Language at the University of Essex) International Postgraduate Conference (held in 2007 at the University of Essex)
